A Dance of Flame and Shadow
by Yusagi
Summary: There are times when one does not so much meddle with time, as time meddles with them. They were never meant to meet. They always would. Cause and effect can be difficult to determine, but the shadow has always been moved by the light, not the other way around. Time travel, a stable time loop or two, and many casualties lie ahead. DanzoSaku.
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this story is based off of a much more complex and multi-year long RP I've had. This one will be tweaked using concepts that were considered but not included, adjusted to flow a little better as a solid bit of fiction and dropping some of the more random and off the wall events that weren't justified narratively as much as "we were dared to do this".

So, essentially this story is 'heavily inspired by' a previous RP I was involved with like a movie based on a 'true story'. Good and bad.

* * *

 _A Dance of Flame and Shadow_

 **Prologue**

' _Ghost-Girl!'_

She was weak. She was a weak, cowardly girl, so she ran away.

The laughter behind her somehow managed to be full of both happiness and malice, and she _hated it_. Tears ran down her face, and she ran. Somewhere, somewhere in the direction she ran, she'd find home. Home would be _safe_. At home they'd leave her alone, they'd all stop chasing her and laughing at her. Home wasn't cruel. At home, her parents would wipe off her face and tell her nice things.

" _Ghost-girl~!_ " The voice of the one who started making fun of her first called over the wind. " _Where oh-where are you haunting now?!"_

She tried to stay out of their way. She didn't _want_ to be noticed. Nothing about her was worth being noticed over, but those girls...they always _did_. Her big forehead made it impossible to hide anywhere, they'd said. So, she'd started to cover her face and hide behind her hair. But...it was too pink, too obviously _different_ and they found her anyway.

They'd started chasing her off when they found her now, calling her a ghost, insisting that they needed to rid the village of her before she stole away their souls.

She only wanted to be left alone.

Ahead of her, a rustle of robes caught her attention. She didn't recognize the person, but he was an adult. The sounds of the girls behind her were close now, so she ducked immediately behind him, clinging to his leg and crying in desperation.

For a few moments the figure simply stopped, silent. When the girls approached, though, he spoke in a gruff and commanding voice.

It wasn't at her.

With some reluctance, the girls turned and scattered away.

He said something to her after that. She thought it might have been chastisement, but she was too busy sniffling and rubbing at her face to hear what it was. Before he left, slim fingers tapped lightly on the top of her head.

)+(

Her first trip outside of the village wasn't to go anywhere _else_. Students were separated into small teams and then sent off into the forests outside Konoha. They were meant to be out for the afternoon, gather mushrooms, and then come back to their instructors.

It rained that day. She liked the group of students around her, none of them were the mean ones who made fun of her, and they were all just as excited as she was to go on their very first 'mission' outside the village. With all the rain, finding mushrooms would be easy, their instructors said, and they only had small bags to fill.

They weren't supposed to split up, but they'd only filled half of their bags and they didn't have very much time left, so all of them went different directions and promised to come back to the same spot.

It didn't take long for her to become lost. Even though her bag was mostly full, she couldn't remember which direction she'd come from, and everywhere she looked seemed familiar. When she picked a direction and started to sprint that way, the mud underneath her gave way and she slid violently down a cliffside.

Everything hurt.

Her back hurt. Her legs hurt. Her ankle looked bigger than it should have been, and when she reached out to touch it, pain shot through her leg.

Like this, she couldn't move.

Like this, no one would find her.

Like this, she'd never get home at all.

She scrubbed muddy hands into her face and wept.

"Fool."

She froze. The voice sounded nearly her age, but it wasn't familiar at all. Could it have been...an enemy...?

Hesitantly, frightened, she slowly lowered one hand to peek out in the direction of the voice. A boy only a little older than her scowled down at her. His shoulder and his chin and neck were all bandaged, but he didn't seem bothered by the injuries. Instead, he just glared down at her.

"You won't fix anything crying, stupid fool."

Her lip trembled looking up at him. "B...but...but I don't know how to get home..."

His expression turned to something like disgust, and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Home is that way. If you can't find your way back on your own, you shouldn't leave at all."

He walked on by her then, and no matter how much she called out to him, complaining that she hurt, that her ankle wouldn't work, he didn't answer.

She stumbled and limped in the direction he pointed, and after only a little while longer one of her teachers appeared, flustered, worried, and more than a little irritated that the students hadn't followed orders.

)+(

 _"Please...! Please just bring him back to me!_ "

She felt sick.

Her stomach knotted up, and she actually felt _sick_.

She'd felt plenty helpless, she'd felt hopeless and sad and frustrated before. She knew her life wasn't as hard as her teammates' lives had been. It wasn't hard at all, really. But she'd still felt sad, she'd felt all of the things she felt now.

She'd never felt them so _keenly_ before.

She'd never felt so _completely alone_. She'd failed to stop Sasuke going, even when she knew he _would_. He never listened to her before, so of course he didn't this time, either. All of the hope she felt when he whispered those last words to her shattered into horrified despair when the team that went out - her friends who promised to bring him back to her after all - came back to Konoha in critical condition, all of them nearly killed trying and failing to bring him back.

She hadn't done anything. She _couldn't_ do anything, everyone nearly died, and Sasuke was _still gone_.

Before she knew it, Naruto left too.

She felt alone, and now she _was_ alone, and it was all because she couldn't _do anything_. She'd promised Naruto and herself that it would change. She promised she would do _something_ next time. It didn't make him stay put, though. He still left, and she was still _here_.

They were gone, and life still continued, and somehow that life was one without them.

The Hokage accepted her as an apprentice, promised to teach her all the Sannin knew so that, in three years time when they would seek out Sasuke again, she'd be able to do _something_ that time. The Hokage trained her so mercilessly, so brutally that often all she could do between sessions was sleep and struggle to eat to regain her energy.

On the days when she didn't, Konoha still had missions, and Sakura was still a genin of the leaf.

The team she worked with today were all out gathering food while she tended the fire and protected the camp.

So, of course, that would be _exactly_ the time a small child (so young he might not have even been Academy age yet) stumbled into the camp. His dark eyes were wild with confusion and paranoia as he looked around the area, and then he settled his gaze on her.

" _Hey_!" He shouted, making her jump. "Where did you take me?! What did you do?"

"Wha-?" She shook her head. "What are you talking about? Who are you?" She stood, reaching for the kunai at her waist. It was weird, but maybe this was some kind of attack - appearing like a harmless kid and expecting her to be off guard. "How did you get here?!"

He took a step back, and settled into an admirable defensive position, pulling up a kunai of his own. "Don't pretend you don't know, Traitor! I was somewhere else, and you _kidnapped_ me!"

"Kidnap- _Traitor_?!" She shook her head, confusion beginning to melt into frustration. For being such a tiny kid, he had a loud mouth. And he was _rude_. Why the hell would she be a _traitor_? "What are you _talking_ about? I've never even seen you before!"

"Seen who?" One of her teammates sprinted up to camp from the treeline, drawing her attention briefly away from the child in front of her.

"The-" She cut off abruptly in frustration when she turned back to where he _had_ been. "Damn it! He ran away!"

Whoever it was must have been some kind of a scout. If they didn't catch him _now_ , they'd have to move the whole camp and set up somewhere else entirely.

And she'd _just_ gotten the fire at the level she wanted it.

)+(

She flipped through the papers clipped into the metal board she carried. For the most part, all hokage duties were handled by either the Hokage herself, or Shizune her oft-beleaguered assistant. Every once in a while, a flood of paperwork required so much attention that it was just simpler to borrow an extra pair of hands.

It wasn't like she handled anything _sensitive_. Honestly, any jounin in the vicinity of the Lady Hokage could have done anything handed to her. Most of the jounin knew better than to linger in the woman's vicinity. She didn't mind, though. Helping with little things really was the absolute least she could do in return for all the instruction and help that the Lady Hokage granted her. Besides that, she _wanted_ to help. She _wanted_ to be useful.

Naruto and Sasuke had both been gone for nearly two years now, and the crushing sense of helplessness she felt whenever she thought of them hadn't alleviated at all. By the time Naruto came back, by the time they'd go and bring Sasuke back tomorrow, she promised herself she wouldn't feel it at all anymore. She'd make sure she was someone who wouldn't _need_ to.

If reading and memorizing a few long reports from various jounin from time to time happened to be a part of that, she didn't mind.

She'd walked the path often enough that she didn't worry about looking up from the papers, so long as she walked at a reasonable pace. The people of Konoha generally had enough manners to get out of the way of someone walking, and it wasn't as if she wouldn't _sense_ someone near her long before she actually bumped into anyone.

...She assumed, anyway.

A hand touched her shoulder, and thin lips pressed to her cheek just above her jaw. She didn't know _when_ the person got close enough, she didn't immediately recognize them, either.

He showed _incredible_ nimbleness to dodge the right hook she responded with.

" _What the hell are you doing_?!"

The man...actually, he looked about her age. She didn't recognize him at all, but part of the reason behind her lack of recognition could have been the lingering blind _rage_ she still felt. He actually had the _audacity_ to look annoyed. He snuck up on a kunoichi (somehow!) and stole a kiss! And _he_ looked annoyed!

"What you _asked_." His tone was entirely too calm for narrowly avoiding a fist that would _surely_ have sent him through a house or three. It was as flat as if she'd just asked him why they were hidden in the leaves.

Which made the least sense of _anything_ that just happened.

"I _did not_! I don't even know who you _are._ "

His lips twitched in irritation, as if he only just managed to suppress the urge to roll his eyes or say something derogatory.

Maybe she ought to make another attempt at avenging her cheek.

"And yet you asked me for a kiss all the same."

 _Why did he look so irritated_? _He_ was the one being unreasonable!

"First. _No_. I didn't." She pointed at him, settling for now on asking him questions before clobbering him again, just in case he forgot any answers between now and the end of his hospital stay. "Second, why would you even _want to_ kiss someone you don't know, even if I had?"

His lips twitched, and he squinted at her a moment. Afterward, his expression smoothed to neutrality again and he shook his head. "Curiosity. It's not a request I often receive from strangers."

"Well you _wouldn't_." Yet, he seemed...perfectly serious. Annoyed, but serious. Not at all like the kind of lecherous pervert she'd expect from someone who randomly walked up and kissed strange women on the street. She found it disconcerting.

Come to think of it, actually, he didn't look familiar at _all_. He moved like a shinobi (no civilian, no matter how prepared, would have been able to dodge her attack so easily), and he wore a headband from Konoha, but he didn't even look like someone she'd seen in passing before. His dark hair spiked out in even wilder ways than Naruto's ever had, lines already started to form on his face that suggested he scowled far too often, and he had a distinctive set of scars she'd never seen before on his chin. He didn't look familiar at all.

Which was _weird_ , because she lurked over the Hokage's shoulder often enough when the Lady Hokage gave out missions that she'd been certain she'd seen every face in Konoha at least once. Every face not hidden by an ANBU mask.

He watched her as if he were expecting something, and for a moment she worried that she'd missed a question.

No, he'd definitely just been looking at her, as if he were waiting for her to do something else. Maybe he was properly wary. Or maybe he was waiting for her to realize he wasn't a shinobi of Konoha after all. "...I've never seen you before."

His brows knit a moment. "So you've said."

Well...not in so many words. She squinted at him. "I've seen _most_ of the people in this village."

"As have I."

He said it as if she weren't the Hokage's student and not the one under suspicion! It was like everything he said he specifically _designed_ to make her angry ahead of time.

"Well then? Why are you stalling? Who _are_ you?"

"You hadn't _asked_ me before now." He frowned at her, expression a bit like she'd expect a teacher's to be if she failed to pay attention in class before a test. She couldn't actually decide whether to be flustered or angry about it, honestly. "My name is Danzo. And yours?"

She blinked at him in silence for a moment or two.

But-that was...

Wait.

She'd never personally met him, come to think of it, but she'd definitely heard descriptions which the man in front of her _did not_ fit. There weren't _two_ shinobi of the same village named the same thing, neither of whom she'd met, were there?

"You... _what_?"


	2. Chapter 2

_A Dance of Flame and Shadow_

 **Chapter One: _The Turning of the Tide_  
**

He looked entirely unimpressed, but she couldn't say that the expression was anything _new_. He'd looked some variation of unimpressed or _miffed_ since he appeared. As if she'd been the one to introduce herself to a stranger by kissing him, and then blame it on the stranger.

If he weren't equally as confusing as infuriating, she'd already have sent him through a couple of city blocks.

"Do you usually demand names without expecting to give yours?" He said it as if that were an actual possibility.

Which was...just.

How could there really be _two_ Danzos? Were they related? Did _that one_ actually...have _children_?

She struggled not to scowl at him. That would let on how confused and suspicious she was, and potentially provoke an attack. If he were the shinobi world's _strangest_ secret operative. "I've never seen you before." She'd said that before, but if he was a shinobi of Konoha, that was pretty important. "That's _strange_ , isn't it, for a fellow shinobi of Konoha?"

He crossed his arms. The movement wasn't quite sudden enough to make her defend herself. She was more than on edge enough to _almost_ make her do it. Which was a little ridiculous if he really _was_ just another Konoha shinobi that she hadn't seen in the Hokage office by pure chance. And had the name of someone who gave Lady Tsunade trouble often enough for her to remember it.

"I can't say that I remember seeing _you_ before now, either." His lips twisted downward in what must have been irritation. "And you're...distinctive."

Now, she wasn't exactly famous. She wasn't Uchiha or Naruto, or anyone else like that. But...she _was_ the Lady Hokage's newest apprentice. That wasn't a secret. And she spent a lot of time around her. Could an active duty shinobi _really_ not know her?

...Well, actually she hadn't introduced herself yet. If she hadn't seen him, _maybe_ he hadn't seen her. He might only have heard her name.

"...I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno. I'm...the Hokage's apprentice."

He squinted at her. Disapprovingly. "I don't believe that's true."

 _...What?_

"Wh-what's that supposed to _mean_?" What was there to _doubt_? It was true! "Who _are_ you?!"

His disapproval melted back to the irritation of before. "I've told you _already_ , woman. I am Danzo. Danzo Shimura."

That...

That wasn't even-

How could anyone have intel _that poor_ and still make it into Konoha?

Finally, she couldn't really help scowling. "You're a bit young to be him, don't you think? And much too healthy."

He actually fell quiet for a few moments then. Rather than irritated, he simply looked confused. The expression eventually faded away into a stony glare again. "I have no idea _who_ you've confused me with, but I am _most assuredly_ who I say I am. There is no other with my name."

...He was _adamant_ about sticking with his cover, even once it was blown, wasn't he? She gripped a hand into a fist. "Then you won't mind if I _escort_ you to somewhere to confirm your identity."

His hand settled on the kunai at his thigh. "If you are _truly_ also a Konoha shinobi, there is nothing to fear with following you to verify the obvious."

Did he-?

Did he just question _her identity_ again? As if he could just turn things on her and change the situation away from outing _him_ as a fake!

"I _am_. Come with me." She reached out for his arm and he took a step back, expression turning sharp and dangerous.

"You've yet to share where we're going."

She hadn't decided yet.

"That...that depends! If you can convince me you actually _belong_ here by the time we get there, it'll be better than where you go otherwise."

He gave a soft huff. "And just what authority will you make that decision on? You seem to be under a delusion as to how much you wield."

She...didn't have much authority, actually. She was only barely a chuunin, and 'the apprentice to the current Hokage' didn't actually infer any authority as it wasn't an official rank of Konoha. But, if he were a hostile invader, she had the authority to do whatever she felt necessary to defend the village.

"Until I'm sure you're not an enemy, I have _all_ the authority."

"And why shouldn't I believe you're the enemy?" For all of his annoyance and despite his words, he didn't radiate any violent intent. Which was just...weird. "I've never heard of you despite what you claim to be, nor have I seen you. I find that unlikely."

She planted her hands on her hips, fingers cracking with the effort of not just attacking him now, dragging him to the nearest prison, and asking him questions in the form of interrogation later. The fact that he didn't seem about to attack her, despite her _obviously_ seeing through his poor disguise, was all that held her back. It didn't line up at all.

"You know, you've been questioning _my_ position an awful lot. If you're so sure of yourself, why don't you tell me yours? Go on. Rank and position. If I haven't met you," if somehow she was so _absurdly_ misinformed about the shadowy figure Danzo she'd heard of but not seen that this man only her age was him, "then what are you?"

He straightened a little, chin jutting out in what might have been pride, if it made any sense. "I lead one of the two units directly under the Second Hokage's command."

The...

The _what_?

"Wh-..." She stared at him in open confusion.

He seemed impatient.

 _He seemed impatient_.

There was no way _in all of hell_ that an impostor could ever fail to do research so completely and wholly that they would confuse Konoha history enough to believe they were under the _Second Hokage's_ reign, and not the Fifth's. The third, perhaps. The fourth, _maybe_ , but the second? He might as well have said the first or seventh!

"S- _Second_?"

"Yes." He had the audacity to say it so flatly that she was once again tempted to punch him just because he pissed her off, not because he was a potential enemy (with the worst information network _in the world_ ). "The _Second_. I'm sure it's rather easy to confuse him with the _first_."

She took a step backward. His hand stayed at his leg.

" _Who are you_?"

His lip curled just enough to qualify as a sneer. "I've gotten tired of repeating myself for your benefit."

For a moment, his grip tightened around the kunai at his thigh.

Given that entirely uncooperative response, she did the only reasonable thing she could, under the outrageous and absurd conditions in saddled upon her. Really, faced with someone insisting the impossible, claiming _she_ was the one insisting the impossible, and being so infuriating and confusing, what else could a rational and sane person like her _do_?

Nothing.

That's what.

So, obviously, she attacked him.


	3. Chapter 3

_A Dance of Flame and Shadow_

 **Chapter Two: _Etched in Stone  
_**

She didn't exactly _regret_ knocking the man through a few store fronts and one particularly large house. Actually, it was extremely satisfying.

It didn't really help the situation, though.

He responded to her attack so quickly that any chance he might be some kind of a low-level ninja impostor who'd gotten lucky (or pitied by security) vanished immediately. He must not even have finished skidding before wind blades sliced through the remains of the wooden buildings between he and she.

When she managed to avoid those, earthen spikes nearly skewered her.

Knocking a long range jutsu user out of her arm's length wasn't the best tactical decision she'd ever made.

Still, she wasn't without a few options. Like snapping off one of the spikes and _flinging it_ at his figure in the distance. Or rushing to close the distance between them again.

Despite having improbably terrible intel, he wasn't personally stupid enough to try to block her next punch. He _was_ nimble enough to dodge it outright, though. And he looked more...inconvenienced than strained.

A kunai appeared at her neck. It moved away on its own, given the option between being _shattered_ and retreating.

"Weren't you going to verify my identity?" He didn't sound bored so much as offended that she'd take up his time with something so petty as an attempt to _arrest_ him. Or pulverize him. Whichever happened first. She wasn't that picky, honestly.

"You already did that yourself!" He managed to swerve out of the way of one of her attacks at the last moment, causing her to crash through wood back into the street. A small group of passing civilians startled and then sprinted away from them.

He directed a disapproving scowl at her. "You're causing an unnecessary _ruckus._ If you simply wished for a fight, you should have asked for it outside of the village."

Why?

 _Why_ was he insisting something they both knew was a lie?

It didn't make any _sense_!

" _I didn't ask for anything from you_!"

He huffed, and took a step out from the demolished (and fortunately already closed) shop.

The air didn't stir. She saw no blur of movement at all, nor did she hear a sound. One moment he simply stood a step away from her and she calculated how next to hit him.

The next, a group of masked ANBU stood around them.

 _Well_. An all-out fight in the middle of the village between a shinobi and an invader was bound to bring them eventually.

"Explain yourselves." The hawk-mask ANBU spoke in a way that cut through the air like an icy chill. It did figure the one who'd show up would be _him_. She didn't even know who he was, and yet he always seemed to be the one that caused the most trouble for her.

She straightened, gaze not turning from the man in front of her.

"This one...he claimed to be one of the Hokage's current students. Except he claimed to be one of the _Second_ 's students."

"...And you attacked me as if that would clear up your confusion." She appreciated his flat tone exactly not at all. There he was surrounded by powerful enemies, about to be dragged away for interrogation, and he spoke as if he were an instructor at the academy lecturing her for failing a practical test.

Except he was _her age_ and almost completely _insane_.

The hawk turned his head to the man, 'Danzo', standing across from her. "That scar. Where did it come from?"

His irritation finally! Turned onto someone other than her! Which was good, because if the ANBU gave into the urge to kill someone, _she_ wouldn't be the one getting in trouble. Even if she also wouldn't experience nearly the same amount of satisfaction.

"Having an opinion."

The ANBU surrounding them were silent for a few moments. Sometimes she wondered if they had some sort of jutsu that allowed nonverbal communication between groups of them, or if they were simply so highly trained that they could communicate ideas and concepts without allowing anyone else to realize they were doing it.

Perhaps they were all the strong and silent type.

"...You'll both come to see the Hokage."

"Both of us?" Well, she _did_ destroy part of the village, but it was just to deal with an intruder! A dangerous one at that, as she discovered...after attacking him.

'Danzo' sighed. "That would have settled the matter from the start."

She glared at him. He ignored her as if she did nothing at all.

ANBU were nothing if not efficient, though, and once they all turned in the direction of the Hokage tower, there wasn't really any more time to discuss or glare or...fight. Both of them were marched through the streets toward where the Lady Hokage would be waiting. Where a Lady Hokage would be waiting in _not_ the best of moods, probably.

At least, they marched down that path until they got to the main street of Konoha, a straight-shot to the Hokage tower and monument. The moment they came into view, the man next to her froze. His body stood rigid, his eyes widened, staring straight ahead at the hokage tower (or the mountain, considering his terrible cover story). It didn't look... _that_ shocked, honestly. It was a pretty mild expression.

Somehow he managed not to look horrified, though. The last shred of doubt of his identity should have been ripped away even to the most deluded of spies, and yet he just looked...surprised? Confused? Mostly surprised. And not moving.

One of the ANBU behind him shoved his shoulder. "Keep moving."

She frowned over at him. He took a step or two, but then he only stopped again, still staring up at the mountain. "Hey, you don't want to make them agitated. What are you _doing_?"

His brows knit, and he gave a small shake of his head. He muttered something under his breath, but she didn't quite catch it from where she stood. His bizarre behavior was just starting to bother her. For someone who didn't seem to be anything like Naruto, he somehow managed to find every possible way to be infuriating and grating the way Naruto used to do when his only concern was whatever prank he planned on pulling next.

Actually, now that she thought about it...his clothes seemed out of place.

What he was wearing was just about the absolute _last_ thing she'd been concerned about when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, following up an unwelcome kiss with generally being confusing and infuriating. Now that she bothered to look, his uniform lacked any real kind of color. Rather than the flak jacket that anyone chuunin rank or above was issued, he wore a much more primitive form of armor. The kind that fell out of use during the Third's reign.

She shook her head quickly and turned her attention back to where they were going: the Hokage Tower. Looking at him made her head hurt and her blood boil. Just about now, she'd rather face the Lady Hokage than think any more about how bizarre and out of place the man next to her was.

)+(

It probably would have been a little more pleasant just to stand in the middle of the street and confuse herself with the out-of-place nin than face the Lady Hokage.

Well, if she'd proven the so-called 'Danzo' really was an enemy nin trying to infiltrate the village, it wouldn't have mattered _what_ member of the Daimyo's family owned that one tall building she collapsed a few support beams in. Somehow hauling in a strange probably-imposter resulted in a longer lecture about destroying Konoha property than interrogation of the suspect.

"...So you don't remember _anything_ about moving from then to now?" The Lady Hokage settled her chin on her hand and looked up at the young man beside her with an expression that held entirely too little suspicion for the matter at hand.

He frowned. "As I said."

"And you, Sakura, don't remember asking him to do _anything_?"

As if there were really anything she could have requested that could be confused for 'walk up and kiss me without warning'.

"I've never seen him before in my life."

His gaze flickered toward her, sour. Well. She wasn't about to make up a lie to the Hokage for his benefit. It wasn't as if _she_ trusted him, or had any reason whatsoever to _want_ to do so.

Tsunade tapped her knuckle to her lip. Perhaps there was a long history that only the Hokage knew about of displaced Konoha shinobi suddenly appearing. Apparently from a different point in time than they belong, if his insistence that he served under the Second were true.

If they weren't, he was maybe _the_ most stubborn liar she'd ever seen. Not even a _good_ liar, though. Just a stubborn one.

"Obviously I can't just take your word that something so outrageous is true."

A slim brow rose. Which was almost surprising in itself, because she'd begun to suspect his eyebrows were actually _stuck_ in a permanent scowl. "Obviously."

"Then I'll give you three options." The Lady Hokage settled her hands on the desk, knitting her fingers."Submit to interrogation to determine the truth of your claims, admit to the nation you were sent to infiltrate from so that I can respond appropriately, or be executed."

Executed...

She couldn't help a small frown, glancing over to the man next to her.

He wouldn't really choose _that_ , would he?

He seemed entirely unfazed by the casual threats laid out before him. "I presume Konoha still employs the Yamanaka clan after this time?"

Tsunade's lips twitched up into a slim smile. "Not all of your information is uselessly outdated."

He grunted. She thought it might have been an offended sound, but really...just assigning his responses appropriate emotions made it less of a headache to observe him, so she could have been making it up. It wasn't aggressive, so in the end that was most of what mattered.

"If that's what it takes, then."

The Lady Hokage sat back in her chair then, and gave a curt nod. "I'll figure out what to do with you after we determine if you're telling the truth."

Only a moment or two after she finished speaking, a small group of ANBU appeared in the office once more, having vanished since the Hokage first started speaking to the two of them. This time, at least, they only appeared around the strange man. When they left, he vanished with them.

"Do you think..." She glanced over at the Lady Hokage. "There could be two of them?"

She must have, right? If she was entertaining in any way that the man's story was true, she must have assumed there were more than just the old thorn in her side. Given the condition she'd heard he was in, he probably would have been older than that even if somehow he really were in the wrong _time._

What kind of a jutsu would even allow that, anyway?

The Lady Hokage shook her head. "The Shimura are a private family. Even when I was younger I never really got to know any of them. It's possible."

She huffed, looking out the door that the ANBU likely traveled through only moments before. "If he's born here...there's records, right? Even if they won't answer, we should have something to prove he's existed."

"Well, you could _try_ looking." Shizune's voice cut through the office. She'd been so uninvolved in things since they'd been shoved into the office that Sakura had nearly forgotten her senior student's presence entirely. "But if he's really from where he says he is, the records are unreliable. Many of them were destroyed in attacks, and even more were never even recorded in the first place."

That...

That was...

 _Unbelievably frustrating_.

Not that she actually believed him about being displaced without even having a good explanation for how or _why_.

Because she didn't.

He was definitely just crazy. And dangerous.

And had the actual _worst_ taste in cover identities.


	4. Chapter 4

_A Dance of Flame and Shadow_

 **Chapter Three: _Blurred Lines of the Past_** _ **  
**_

For the most part, she put the strange shinobi out of her mind. He wasn't her problem anymore, and she had much more pertinent concerns to deal with. _Really_ she had errands and training to deal with.

Mostly she wanted to know if the village security was doing its job properly. One of those two were actually her concern and her job...but she couldn't help curiosity and concern. Especially if the strange shinobi really had been an invader. He hadn't even been a _good_ infiltration, so why had anyone let him in?

And it wasn't technically stepping out of line to ask a few questions.

Kotetsu Hagane, the chuunin on gate duty that day, shook his head. "No one like that came through here."

"Are you _sure_?" Could it really be that someone like that man had snuck in as a civilian and _then_ donned a shinobi disguise? Or had he found another way in entirely, without tripping any of Konoha's alarms?

"I don't think we're supposed to give you the whole list of who came and went." Izumo, his partner, squinted up at her with a bored sort of suspicion that probably came with such a slow assignment.

"Only if there's classified travel." That wasn't entirely accurate, but at the same time...she wasn't asking for a full paper _list_ of Konoha's visitors and travelers either. She was just...making a curious inquiry.

Izumo squinted a bit harder up at her. "I don't think that's true."

Kotetsu shrugged. "There's only been civilians through today, and none of those could have been shinobi. We're not that easy to fool, you know."

She sighed.

But...it didn't make sense. Nothing about him made sense, and she should probably do what she was _trying_ to do before and put him out of her mind again.

Even though it was definitely a concern for everyone about the security of the village.

"...What about recently?" She frowned and planted her hands on her hips, cutting off the protest Izumo immediately started with. "He'd be about as tall as you two, wild black hair, perpetually angry face, and he has an x-shaped scar on his chin."

The two glanced between each other a moment. Kotetsu turned to rifle through the papers under the desk, and Izumo turned his gaze back up at her. For a moment, he hesitated. She wasn't entirely sure if he was weighing the benefits of sending her packing, or whether he had a better answer for her.

"An x-shaped scar? You're not...talking about _Danzo_ , are you?"

"Wha-" Kotetsu blinked and looked up from the paperwork. "Wait, that's who you meant? You didn't mention ' _old man_ '."

"Old man?"

Before the two could respond further, the air stirred behind her. It wasn't because she'd detected the ANBU approaching, though, it was because they'd _arrived_. Eventually she'd figure out what they were doing and how to detect them before they wanted to be detected.

Surely.

"The Hokage requests your presence once more."

She blinked. Briefly, for a somewhat ridiculous moment, she worried that the Lady Hokage had been keeping track of what she was doing and would scold her for digging into things she didn't need to. More likely, though, it had something to do with the man she brought in.

She hoped, at least.

She turned toward the messenger, but...as she didn't require an escort, they'd already left.

At least that implied it really was about the stranger and not her.

)+(

As expected, once she made it back into the Hokage's office, the strange man stood inside it as well. What she found somewhat _more_ surprising, was that he stood without any sign of visible restraints. It wasn't as if anyone short of Orochimaru himself could be of any real threat to the Lady Hokage, but that wasn't the _point_. If he escaped and attacked other people, that would be just as bad.

Being unrestrained must have meant they thought he wasn't a threat.

She frowned at the man. He looked at her as if she'd just delivered a quip that fell flat and a little awkward. The Lady Hokage sat behind the desk, fingers steepled under her chin. Despite how she slouched against the desk as if she were completely relaxed and unconcerned, she looked...entirely bemused.

If she'd had to put up with the man's conversation until now, Sakura understood that feeling. Though...perhaps her expression had more to do with Inoichi, who stood behind her chair, expression equally unsettled.

"There you are." The Lady Hokage sighed and sat back in her chair. "I know you're curious about it, so it's easier just to tell you now and get it out of the way. According to the Yamanaka clan, the information he provided seems to be accurate."

But that...

She shook her head and turned her gaze to the man standing behind the Hokage. "He must be faking his memories. " More and more, the competence he had to require just didn't make _sense_ when coupled with the glaring flaws in his lie.

But it just didn't make any _sense._ What could anyone gain by _intentionally_ blowing their cover? He hadn't even made any attempts to take advantage of the situation, actually. He just...stood there and looked irritated at the concept that he needed to be there at all.

Inoichi gave a huff that walked a sharp line between offended and amused. "You're not the first to suggest that. _Every_ measure has been taken. The Inoichi clan isn't that easy to fool."

"Which is why it's rather fortunate I'm _not_ trying to fool you." Despite being around her age, his voice seemed more graveled (and fatigued) than the two elder shinobi present.

Tsunade waved her hand. "It's possible he possesses some sort of implanted memories."

He directed a very sour glower at the Hokage. But...well, it was the most sensible answer of _anything_ so far. Even if it didn't explain why someone so good at replacing memories would put the wrong ones in him.

"Well, then we just have to figure out who gave him the fake memories, right?" She stoutly ignored the glare that the man turned on her.

"They're real memories." Inoichi crossed his arms and shook his head. "Not fabricated. They must have been swapped out and implanted by someone even better at it than the Yamanaka clan to do it so seamlessly."

"It's as if they might actually belong there." If 'Danzo's' tone weren't so aggressive, it would have been as flat and dry as the Suna desert. "I don't have any idea why or how this place appeared."

The latter half of his statement was as flat as the rest of it...but something about his demeanor made her shift defensively. He didn't make any move to attack...but he felt like he was...ready for war. Which was stupid, because with the Hokage present he wouldn't get far, but still...

"I have an idea about that." Tsunade placed her fingers on the edge of her desk. "Although it's only happened once, as far as I know, there _is_ some precedent to a shinobi ending up displaced in time within this village."

"... _what_?" When did _that_ happen? Had the Hokage just made that up?! She never read anything like that in any of the academy textbooks, nor any other history book she'd picked up!

"There's not enough information to know for sure this isn't what's happened again." Tsunade watched him with a critical expression, ignoring her interruption entirely. "But of course, I can't just let a potential threat wander around Konoha freely on the remote chance you're repeating a singular event in history."

Danzo, who seemed entirely unsurprised by what she said earlier, pressed his already thin lips into a fine line. "...Very well."

"Don't interrupt me." The Lady Hokage directed a scolding look to him. "You'll be given secure housing and a curse mark to keep track of you in the village."

Danzo huffed. "I don't plan to remain here long."

"Oh? Do you have a jutsu in mind to travel back in time with?"

He frowned. Intensely. It did nothing to further his argument.

"If you weren't doing anything to bring you here, whatever sent you here _might_ bring you back on your own. That's what you're assuming?" Tsunade gave a small nod. "It's possible. Until then, you'll be under Sakura Haruno's supervision."

She jolted in surprise. Despite _being_ there, she hadn't really had anything of value to contribute. As far as she'd expected, the Lady Hokage simply brought her back to settle her curiosity and prevent her from going after him again if they passed in the street later.

Bringing her into it though, was...

"Wh-... _what_?"

"You discovered him. I trust my student to remain on guard and be perceptive." The Hokage gave a small smile. Which...meant...she'd been assigned this as a part of her training?

Honestly, though, it didn't even make sense. For all of the benefits such a mission could provide, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the specific techniques the Lady Hokage was teaching her now.

Danzo gave her an appraising look. One that shortly indicated she'd failed in some manner. "Am I meant to share the housing with her, then?"

" _No!"_ Her parents were _aggravating_ , she had no time to herself, had to study and struggle to focus on new things through her mother's nagging and her father's puns, but there was _no way_ she'd live with a crazy stranger who might have been secretly programmed to kill the Hokage when the clock struck a certain hour.

"No." Tsunade shook her head, tone firm. "If you require constant observation, it will be from a cell in Konoha prison."

He grunted. It might have been approving, despite the threat.

Which was a little offensive, all things considered.

The Lady Hokage dismissed them, then, and...fortunately he made no move to follow after her any longer than necessary to leave the office. As much as his mystery made her want to seek out the answers, the confusion gave her a headache, and his demeanor in general was just... _irritating_.

She pursed her lips as she walked, staring up at the sky. It didn't hold any answers, but it kept her from glaring too heartily at random passing civilians. If she wasn't living with him (thank all sane and good things) then what purpose did it serve to have her 'watch' him?

And...wouldn't the ANBU be doing that _anyway_ , given the situation he presented?

" _Ugh_!" She waved her hands in the air in frustration and slumped against a nearby wall. Not sulking.

It just...

It didn't make any sense _at all_!

And...

Just what did Lady Tsunade mean about a 'precedent'? She glanced up toward her own house, where her parents would be starting dinner soon, and then back to the library carved into the cliffside underneath the faces of the past and current Hokage.

Somewhere in there, if she dug deep enough...

At least she'd find _one_ answer.


End file.
